Get-ups tasty, too, at annual fundraiser

Winners advance to the Terlingua International Chili Championship Nov. 7 in Terlingua, near Big Bend National Park.

Best chili

First place: Kelly Brignon, Waxahachie

Second place: Gary Brignon, Waxahachie

Third place: Judy Hawthorne, Wichita Falls

Showmanship

Family Recipe, Texas and Oklahoma

Some contestants at Saturday's 25th Tri-State Open Chili Championship at the Tri-State Fairgrounds Rex Baxter Building went to great lengths to wow judges not with their cooking, but with their creativity.

The event, which raises about $10,000 each year for the local Make-A-Wish Foundation, is a qualifying event for the coveted International Chili Championship in Terlingua. The four-day event scheduled for the first Saturday in November is considered the granddaddy of all chili cook-offs.

On Saturday, cooks had two chances to qualify - either with mouth-watering chili or for the creativity and design of their booth.

The showmanship is taken very seriously by some of the 117 teams competing in this year's cook-off.

Mark Montgomery of Amarillo spent about six months building the bamboo "Tiki Bar" he serves his chili from. He dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and hula skirt, and jalapeno lights line his bar.

Montgomery said he has yet to perfect his chili, so the booth serves as his way to secure a coveted spot.

He goes all out.

The returning showmanship champion, Montgomery said it took him 1½ hours to set up his booth.

"Showmanship is a lot easier to control (than cooking) because I'm very creative," he said.

At a different local competition, he spread half a truckload of sand on the floor around his Tiki Bar. He wasn't allowed to use sand at this competition.

Each year, he adds something new. He has so much stuff now, it takes two storage units to store it all.

"I have more cook-off stuff than household goods," he said.

Nearby, Phylecia Rowland had a fire going at her family's "Home on the Range Campfire Chili" booth.

A fake dog that fooled passing children dozed by the fire. Her daughter, Brooklyn Turner, 10, touted a toy rifle. She borrowed saddles, which sat near bales of hay.

"Every year I just add a little bit more," she said.

This year, it's the outhouse door, animal skins, tarantulas and snakes, she said.

Other booths weren't as refined, but caught the attention of passers-by nonetheless.

The Amarillo Hog Club's outhouse-themed booth with a toilet seat topping their chili pot garnered a few comments, said the four men who run the booth.

When the guys arrived at the cook-off Saturday morning, they decided something was missing, so they went to Wal-Mart and picked up the seat.

Tracy Ball of Amarillo said people kept asking if the toilet was clean.

"As far as you know," he said he responded. "It's kind of a last-minute touch, and it turned out real well."

It was the club's first chili cook-off.

Metal cans with designs cut into them served as lights. Motorcycle wheels were attached to the outside.

The club served its "outhouse chili" out of a wooden structure similar to an old outhouse.

"Somebody's fence is gone," Mike Martindale of Pampa joked of the materials used.